Special Reports

Viral Vaccines & Fetal Tissue

Introduction

Many viral vaccines were developed and are still manufactured using cell strains derived from aborted fetuses. This information is not widely known among parents, healthcare professionals and government officials alike. Moral objections are often met with claims that only a few fetuses were used over 30 years ago and that no further fetal cell strains are needed now or in the future. This information outlines the facts and helps parents and others to seek ethically produced alternatives.

LifeCanada’s mandate includes providing the public with life-respecting and life-promoting education. Therefore the discussion of vaccines will be limited to how life has been exploited in the production of viral vaccines, and what can be done to counter this. It is not the purpose of this information to downplay the achievements of vaccines in reducing suffering and disease for many world-wide, or to discuss vaccine safety.

Parents should note that Pentacel, a commonly used childhood vaccine made using aborted fetal cell strains, was replaced with one of two ethical alternatives. All the provinces replaced Pentacel with Pediacel. Another ethical alternative to Pentacel that may be made available at a later date is Infanrix (GlaxoSmithKline). However, ethical alternatives are not available in Canada for many other vaccines.